The Guest of Honour, Jerome Ochieng, Principal Secretary, Ministry of Information Communication and Technology, pointed out that the next gold is data mining. The young people who will be involved in data science, data mining, artificial intelligence, will be better placed. He pointed out that the youth-related issues are a priority to the government as the youth are relatively marginalized in socio-economic outcomes including employment and face challenges like unemployment, underemployment, sexual and gender-based violence, economic exploitation, high levels of youth inactivity and idleness.

“Our education system aims at producing competent and competitive individuals who can offer creative and innovative solutions to challenges that beset us. As young innovators, you are called upon to create products that quickly meet the existing needs and explore the potential presented in the ever-expanding creative economy,” he said.

The Principal Secretary pointed out some of the government efforts geared towards helping the youth to get access to capital to start their entrepreneurship endeavors. These include setting up various funds such as the Affirmative Action Funds that include the Youth Enterprise and Development Fund (YEDF), National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF), Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) and Uwezo Fund which the youth can take advantage of.

Dr. Francis Owino, Principal Secretary, State Department of Youth, pointed out that as a country we need an education that will transform the young people. The three focus areas should be education that centers on values, education driven by ICT and education driven by skills. “The youth is dynamic and versatile, they need to be fully harnessed, optimized to contribute to the countries development,” he said.

He pointed out that young people face many challenges such as unemployment, economic exploitation, early pregnancy, limited access to safe public spaces. He revealed that the government has embarked on creating youth spaces in all the 47 counties. The youth centres will be equipped with ICT services, HIV counseling services and nurturing youth talent.

The University of Nairobi Ag. Vice Chancellor, Prof. Isaac Mbeche, observed that the Youth need to be equipped with relevant skills to pursue fulfilling careers.

“As a country, we are blessed with a young, energetic and versatile population, who need to be equipped with the right skills. We have the Office of Career Services which helps the young people in getting internships, attachments, and jobs.  We have embraced the Ajira Digital Program which promises to help young people get thousands of jobs online,” he said.

The youthful event was attended by students from all universities and institutions of higher learning across the country.

96 Kenyan students have been flagged off to Israel for 11 months of advanced studies in agriculture. The studies will take place in Arava at the Advanced International Centre for Agriculture Training. 19 of the 96 students are graduates from the University of Nairobi.

Speaking during the flagging off ceremony, the Cabinet Secretary for Water and Sanitation, Hon. Simon Chelugui urged students to take a keen interest during the training and to learn as much as possible. “This journey will change your life and the life of Kenyans”, he said.  He pointed out that the water levels in the country is reducing and hence students going to Israel should study water desalination and deep wells drilling methods. “We are looking at alternative water sources”, he said. Food security is a pillar in the Big Four agenda and water is an enabler and hence modern irrigation methods need to be embraced. “As a ministry, we work to ensure that agriculture is developed and irrigation encouraged through the various dams projects like Thwake, Samba, Karimero”, he observed. He pointed out that other projects like Northern Collector Tunnel which is 85% done will go a long way in ensuring the wellbeing of farmers and Kenyans in general.

The Cabinet Secretary urged students to come back and develop the country as they implement the ideas and knowledge learned during the 11 months training.

Israel Ambassador to Kenya, H.E. Noah Gal Gendler pointed out that a total of 25 countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America will be sending students to Israel. “It is an opportunity for young farmers to learn how we transformed as a desert country to food-producing and exporting country in the world. You will learn how we use technology in agriculture”, he said. He pointed out that Kenya is more blessed with warm climate, fertile land, rainfall and the young people have the ability to change the agricultural potential of Kenya for years to come.

This is the fifth cohort of students being sent to Israel for advanced studies in Agriculture. The first cohort was sent after the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between President Uhuru Kenyatta and the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu in February 2016. The students are drawn from various universities and colleges across the country.

The Office of Career Services in partnership with the British American Tobacco company planned an industrial site visit for 13 the University of Nairobi Engineering and Chemistry Students on 30^th of July 2019 at the BAT factory on Likoni Road, Industrial Area.

Marie-Anne-Laurence the Talent Development Manager at BAT gave the students an overview of BAT, the BAT marketing strategy, Job and internship opportunities available at BAT and how BAT has maintained their rating as one of the Top Employers in Kenya. UoN students also shared their expectations for the visit and asked relevant questions.

The BAT team then led the UoN students in the walk around the tobacco factory explaining every detail about the production of cigarettes and machinery used in the production.

The three career opportunities available at BAT include:

1. Global Graduate Training Programme: One has to apply from the BAT website: (careers.bat.com) and the recruitment process begins on October 2019.
2. Technical Training Program where students will get a chance to be trained for a period of between 6 months to 1 year;
3. Battle of Minds Challenge: where students will get a chance to pitch a groundbreaking business idea. Registration is ongoing on www.bat-battle of minds.com and closes on the 14^th of September 2019.
4. Entry and mid-career recruitments

The Office of Career Services appreciates BAT for their support in exposing students to the industry environment and looks forward to more industrial visits and internship opportunities at BAT. It is hoped that UoN students will tap into the career opportunities available at BAT.

Jijali is a virtual training and mentorship program that will enable you to find your first job or start your own business. It is running from September to November 2019. Through online content, virtual mentorship and practical tasks you will get to learn about one of the below two topics:

Start or Improve your Business

In the Entrepreneurship training module, you will get the tools and knowledge to take your idea and make it a real business.

You will learn how to ensure it is a product/service that people want, how to make it sustainable and build the steps to start creating it.

If you already have a business, you will learn how to solve problems within your business, how to manage different aspects such as sales and finances, and how to plan for the future.

Get into employment

In the Career Start training module, we will train you on how to grow competitive skill sets that employers are looking for that will make you stand out.

You will learn more about the skills that you need for your career and how to build them; how to make yourself stand out to employers through interview and CV writing skills; how to search for jobs and how to start your career on the right track.

Jijali is a fully funded Career Start or Entrepreneurship training. UoN students are invited to register online for free and tap onto this part-time online learning with practical tasks. Mentors will be assigned to walk with you through this journey. Students are requested to take advantage of this opportunity and build their Entrepreneurship Skills.

Apply here https://www.yusudi.co/jijali

The Office of Career Services hosted a Pre-Departure Training session for 96 students drawn from the University of Nairobi, JKUAT, Egerton, Kenya Water Institute, Strathmore University, and Karen Institute of Science and Technology on Wednesday, July 31, 2019, at the UoN Towers.

The students will be in Israel for an 11 months diploma training in advanced mechanized agriculture at the Arava International Centre for Agricultural Training (AICAT) from August 2019 to June 2020.

AICAT’s goal is to impart professional, theoretical and practical know-how and skills in advanced agricultural studies, based on “Learning by Doing”. The program takes place in the Arava region, in the south of Israel, in the desert.

Agriculture in the Arava is the spearhead of modern and sophisticated agriculture in Israel, using modern high technologies in the most inhospitable conditions of the desert.

The students will earn a modest salary to pay for their tuition, accommodation and make a saving to invest when they return home. This program seeks to address the Big 4 agenda on food security and the University is looking to create opportunities and link the students to projects both nationally and at the county level for them to improve on agricultural processes in the country and boost food security.

The UoN Office of Career Services appreciates the partnership between the Kenyan Government and the Israeli Government that led to the birth of this program. To date, 45 UoN students have benefited from the program.

The Office of Career Services participated in the USIU Career Fair for 2019 themed Anticipate, Create, Actualize Career Opportunities on Thursday 25^th July, 2019. 35 Student Career Ambassadors attended the symposium a

The event was aimed at enabling knowledge sharing as well as to expose students to the changing trends in the world of work. As part of the career Fair activities, USIU held a symposium for students to challenge their thinking as they plan their transition into the world of work.

In her opening remarks, the USIU-Africa DVC Student Affairs, Prof. Wangari Mwai emphasized on nurturing careers, creating opportunities to learn more and actualizing of a career.

The keynote speech for the symposium was delivered by Ms. Stella Atela, the Senior HR Business Partner at the World Food Program. Stella spoke about students transitioning to the world of work which is evolving rapidly. Technology is a key force of change that has re-shaped every job and work is now increasingly augmented by technology. From her Keynote address, Ms. Atela indicated that according to a 2019 LinkedIn report, the top 5 employability skills employers look out for include Creativity, Persuasion, Adaptability, Time Management and Collaboration. Students were encouraged to apply for the WFP Internship and UN Volunteer program six months before or after graduation.

A panel discussion moderated by Michael Oyier discussed the topic ‘Decoding the future of work: Exploring the Gig-Economy’; self-employment and traditional career pathways’.  The panelists were Lorna Kanyuga (Gig Economy), Tei Mukunya (Azuri Health), Roy Gitahi (Art at Work), Adams Tuva and Victor Mulindi. A common factor of all the panelists is that they are all entrepreneurs and gave real life practical skills and experiences to the students on how to begin and run their businesses.

From the panel discussions, students were encouraged to plan their career lives, know their passion and strive to become experts in their areas of interest. Despite the fact that it is tough getting a job in Kenya today, if one is prepared for the world of work, is open minded and works smart, they are likely to secure an opportunity in the job market.

This opportunity to participate in the USIU-Africa Career Fair and symposium opened up the minds of the students and it is hoped they will tap into the advice given to focus on building their skills to secure a job or begin their own businesses.

100% online learning to explore emerging technologies, build innovative solutions, learn new skills and find a job

The Office of Career Services in partnership with IBM has launched the Digital – Nation Africa program to enable staff and students to learn and earn digital badges on new emerging technologies such as;

• Blockchain,
  
• Cybersecurity
  
• Internet of Things
  
• Data Science & Analytics
  
• Design Thinking
  
• Java
  
• Artificial Intelligence
  
• Web Development, &
  
• Cloud Computing for free and find jobs with IBM

Registration is open on the links below. This program will enable staff and students learn the skills for the future. With Digital – Nation Africa (D – NA), one will access knowledge & tools to innovate & launch your own digital solutions and find jobs that fit your skills for free!

www.ibm.com/university
http://www.digitalnationafrica.com/

This is a great opportunity to learn new emerging technologies that are revolutionizing the world.

The UoN Office of Career Services in partnership with eMobilis and Google hosted the Google Digital Marketing Skills Program training at the UoN main campus tower on 15 July 2019. The training aimed at imparting youth and job seekers with digital skills in preparation for the job market.

Google Digital Skills for Africa are designed to help improve employability and business growth. The training is offered in-person and online in English, French and Portuguese with highly tailored content for job seekers and Small and Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs).

Students were taught on a few topics including an Introduction to the internet, Search Engine Optimization, safe surfing, opportunities in digital careers and how to be safe online.

Students were also enlightened on the digital space career opportunities which include Customer Acquisition & Retension, SEO Manager, SEM Manager, E-Commerce Manager Social Network Manager, Graphics & Media Developer, Online Content Writer and Data Analyst among many others

The eMobilis team also shared a few tips on what companies look for when hiring such as Knowledge (skills), Experience, Tools and Attitude (Adaptable, Attitude, Optimistic).

The UoN Office of Career Services is grateful to Google and eMobilis for this training and will plan more future training to equip students with digital marketing skills.

The University of Nairobi hosted the inaugural Presidential Digital Program Job Fair on Tuesday July 16, 2019 at the University’s Great Court. Through the Presidential Digital Talent Programme (PDTP) launched on February 10, 2015, fresh and qualified ICT graduates have gotten an opportunity to get mentorship, career guidance and recruited by host of technology companies present here today.

With the World in dire need of technical skills in ICT, the PDTP program is for sure imparting technical skills to young ICT graduates to make them competitive for the job market. Skills development is now our University’s main focus in order to enhance the graduates’ market value as a degree alone is not enough to secure them a stable job.

The University is proud of the continued partnership with the Ministry of ICT and Huawei Technologies Ltd. So far, over 2,000 UoN students have been trained on online work through the Ajira Digital program. Through the partnership with Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd, the University has trained over 100 Students on the Huawei Certified Internet Associate (HCIA) Routing and Switching course giving them technical skills ready for the job market in the ICT sector.

In order to expand the Digital Space for young people to exploit the Digital Economy, the University has partnered with Global Technology Companies such as Huawei, Microsoft, IBM, Google and recently African Development Bank (AfDB) in Partnership with Microsoft and Facebook to implement the Coding for Employment Program.

These programs have trained and will continue to offer our students and staff the necessary technical skills to enable them tap into the job market both locally and internationally.

The University was happy to host the Presidential DigiTalent Job Fair.  Through the Presidential Digital Talent Programme (PDTP), fresh and qualified ICT graduates will have an opportunity to get mentorship, career guidance and recruited by host of technology companies present here today.

We believe that our students and alumni of the Presidential Digital Talent Program, Huawei ICT Academy, AfDB Coding for Employment, Google Digital Skills for Africa Program, Microsoft Imagine Academy, Andela Learning Centre and Moringa School graduates benefited from the one-day job fair and were linked to internship and job opportunities in the ICT sector.